Tahir Hasanovic has long been considered a grey eminence among Serbia’s business and political elite. Although he graduated from university as a physicist, in communist Yugoslavia, Hasanovic was active in politics from a young age and held politically prominent positions, first as President of the Belgrade University Students’ Association, then as President of the Youth Organization of Belgrade, and finally as the last “youth foreign minister” of ex-Yugoslavia in 1989. His rise was so rapid that by the age of 30 he was a member of the Central Committee of the League of Communists (Communist Party). At this time he developed extremely close relations with a Party colleague, the current Prime Minister of Serbia, Ivica Dacic, which continue to this day. During the Milosevic era in 1993, Hasanovic was a co-founder and first Secretary General of an opposition party, New Democracy, which was part of the DOS coalition that unseated Milosevic in October 2000. Under DOS, Hasanovic was Chairman of the cadre committee, which oversaw all appointments to government and state-owned industry posts. In this post he developed close ties with the parties that are currently in opposition (ex-President Tadic’s DS, etc.). Since the overthrow of Milosevic, Hasanovic has earned a reputation as perhaps the only individual in Serbia who gets along well with both the governing parties and opposition.

Hasanovic withdrew from active politics sometime around 2003 and devoted himself full-time to business. He has founded and developed successful local companies in several fields, including telecommunications, and has overseen their sale to foreign investors. He sat on the board of directors of two state-owned companies, Centrobanka and the Railway Company. He also either owned or was the director of several other successful companies.

Hasanovic is very active in Serbia’s social life, both via private philanthropic activities, and memberships in key social clubs and investors’ associations. Significantly, Hasanovic is head of Serbia’s Masonic Lodge, which is important given that Serbia’s political elites are all closet-Masons. He is also actively involved with efforts to promote Serbia’s image abroad. For example, he plays a leading role in Serbia’s branch of the Tri-Lateral Commission, as well as being executive director of the East-West Bridge organization.

His contacts should not be underestimated, either in Serbia or throughout the former Yugoslavia. He was offered — and turned down — two very prominent posts in the current government, and has frequent private contacts with Serbia’s Prime Minister, the Defence Minister, and President, as well as with the opposition.